Chapter One - The Night She Asked

Candlelight flickered across her skin in the darkened bedroom, lighting up her delicate features as Maggie looked down at the altar cloth she’d laid out on her floor. In the center of the cloth was a large pentacle in which she’d placed five candles on the points, two pink, two red, and one gold. She had anointed each candle with rose oil while vanilla incense filled the air; the smoke danced upward.

Maggie picked up a sixth candle, this one larger than the others. Also anointed in the rose oil, it had the word Sofi sketched into the wax. This spell, to bring love into one’s life, was not meant for her, but for her twin. Her sister, Sofi, had lost someone she’d loved when they were 18. She’d yet to have a lasting relationship. Instead, she bounced from guy to guy, never exclusive, never serious. Maggie wanted more for her sister. She wanted someone who would truly love her sister, faults and all. She thought everyone should have that.

Unlike her sister, Maggie felt like there was more than one soulmate for each soul. Sofi had experienced one, but maybe there was another out there, lonely, hurting, and in need of her sister. She hoped this spell would bring them together.

Blue eyes closed and her head lowered as the young woman chanted quietly in Latin, her fingers wrapped tightly around the candle she carried, the wick flickering in the dark.

Margaret Turner had a secret, one she shared with her twin. She was a witch. They’d been born that way. It gave her an edge with casting this spell. A mere human could attempt it, but without the magic to back it up, they were likely to fail or worse, bring bad fortune.

Her chanting continued, growing in strength as she gripped the candle tighter, images of her sister happily in love flooding her mind as she focused on her intent. There was an image coalescing in the fog near her sister’s image. Whoever’s soul was meant for Sofya Turner’s love was being called. He was real! Maggie’s eyes widened as she tried to focus on the face and features of the mystery man in the spell.

As she got closer and closer to seeing more, she giggled, because she saw reddish hair and that the soul now dancing with her sister’s soul was not really Sofi’s type. He was around the same size…maybe an inch or two taller than her sister. The more the mist formed into something substantial, the more it surprised her. The musculature was strong, but this was no gym-nut. Sofi had been dating jocks since high-school, so…

The sound of violins and drums and the squelch of guitars broke her from her doubts.

Doubts! No!

“No… wait…” Maggie called out as the misty form of her sister looked at her with surprise. Behind her, the hands of the mystery man touched her sister’s shoulders, then quickly transformed into a four-legged form with pointed ears, before dissipating completely.

She bit her lip, hoping Sofi didn’t actually realize what had just happened. The transformation left Maggie speechless and quickly enough, the entire spell began falling apart. Her doubt had caused things to jump the tracks.

“Please stick. Please… let it happen. Gods or …Goddesses, help them find each other,” she whispered to herself. It was all she could hope for.